Of the various reasons to invest in new technology, becoming more eco-friendly is perhaps not at the top of priorities. Research from the Queensland University of Technology suggests that IT can help to drive more eco-efficient behaviors, however.
The researchers explain that many organizations are now striving to meet sustainability targets, and this is prompting them to leave no stone unturned in their efforts to become greener.
“Our study compared two ways to prompt cognitive dissonance in participants that would nudge them into thinking about the environmental consequences of unnecessary paper printing and change their printer use,” the authors explain. “The results of this study could be used for many routinized behaviors that could be modified to reduce environmental impact, such as travel behavior and energy consumption.”
Paper consumption
The researchers decided to focus their attention on reducing paper usage. It was a topic chosen because it’s relatively simple to change but can have a decent impact.
“Despite innovations such as cloud-based storage, printing remains a substantial environmental problem and one of organizations’ most common drivers of carbon dioxide emissions,” they explain.
The research examined how to encourage people to reduce their paper consumption. Participants were given a weekly report that showcased their consumption alongside a forum to outline potential ways of changing behaviors.
“We measured participants’ number of printed pages, single-sided, double-sided, color, and black and white and matched it with the equivalent consumption of natural resources such as trees, carbon and energy,” the authors continue.
“We tracked paper consumption through the university’s print management tool and provided individual email reports with numerical, text, and visual displays of environmental indicators: trees, greenhouse gases, and energy used to produce paper, and the economic cost in dollars for printed pages.”
Comparable usage
The communication with each participant included comparisons with colleagues. Meanwhile, the surveys helped to explore various options for becoming greener.
IT support allowed the group to engage in collaborative discussions and receive feedback on sustainability-themed content. This interactive design further facilitated networking opportunities as participants socialized during the discussions.
As a result of implementing the email reporting system, paper printing witnessed a substantial reduction of 75.75%. Simultaneously, the online discussion forum also contributed to a significant decrease in paper printing by 72.73%.
Both forms of IT support demonstrated comparable effectiveness in promoting sustainable change, and there were no additional reductions observed when employing both methods simultaneously.
“This study shows that giving feedback to employees is another effective way to influence their motivation and behavior and shape their printing preferences such as to not print emails or other digital texts,” the authors conclude. “In summary, our study emphasizes the importance of understanding organizational routines to question and modify existing environmentally harmful behaviors.”
